Reluctant Concubine
by AnimeKate
Summary: During World War II Duo Maxwell is called out of retirment along with his old teammates for a final mission in post surrender Japan.
1. Intro

Duo Maxwell shot up in bed and swung his head from side to side, brown eyes darting around, trying to find the source of the grating noise that had ruined his sleep. If he didn't get it shut off soon his neighbors would start pounding on the walls again and threatening to come and beat his ass for making noise. He paused and thought for a moment, after the day he had he might just welcome the chance to work out some stress on a ready and willing gorilla. He dropped down to his hands and knees and stuck his head under the bed where he ended up face to face with the source of the noise. A large 2 way government issued receiver was sitting under his bed buzzing incessantly. Hesitantly he reached out and picked it up. It looked familiar to be sure, but as far as he knew this kind of alarm had been left behind with his badge and gun when he was discharged by the government 4 years ago. He looked back at the spot where the phone had been and felt his stomach turn and drop at the sight of a new well oiled handgun, a few clips of ammunition, and a renewed and updated badge laid neatly side by side. Someone had been in this room. Duo sprung up, slid next to the closed window and looked out then scanned the small room, no one was there. He started to sink to the floor in relief when he was startled by the sound of the receiver buzzing again, he hadn't even noticed it had stopped. He raised it slowly and stared at the little display that changed from incoming signal to talk, whoever it was on the other end was now connected to him.

"Hello? Maxwell here." Duo listened to the silence stretch on the other side, had they not expected him to pick up?

"Duo?" Duo started. Was that Roger?

"Roger? What the hell are you doing calling me at 3 in the damn morning? The least you could have done was to wait until 9ཀ Then I might have been ready!"

"Ready for what?" replied Roger.

"Ready to hear the last four years I spent out of service thinking I was done have just been reduced to jack nothing. I'll see you in the morning. But for now, I'm going back to sleep." Duo hit the power button and tossed the large object across the room where it hit with a satisfying thump then sat down on the bed. His thoughts swirled in his head unable to settle on a specific complaint or idea. All he could think about over and over again was a conversation. The one part he remembered from the long winded speech that had accompanied his dismissal from duty . He had been sitting on stage about to fall asleep when one of the senior officers leaned over and asked what he was planning to do on his vacation.

"What?"

"Your vacation? The one you're about to go on? What are you going to do? I went to Africa for mine, strange place. Too hot. Don't recommend it."

"I'm leaving for good, not for a vacation."

"Hmm...that's what a lot of people think. Strange really, they give us so much opportunity to leave but only the people who run truly belong here. Well, good luck, don't start anything you can't end quickly." The truth of the words sunk in and filled the room with a heavy sickness. 'Don't start anything you can't end quickly.' Too bad he hadn't taken the officers advice. Maybe then he could at least be home when he got the news, instead of this hole of a motel he was currently sitting in.

"SHITཀ" he screamed into the dark room. It wasn't fairཀ Of course, when had it ever been fair?


	2. Chapter 1

The next morning Duo staggered out of his room bright and early and got back into the car he had been driving since last night. He didn't know who's it was. At the next town he would report that it was stolen and get another one. All he cared about now was getting to the base sane and seeing if they would consider giving him a few days to tie up loose ends before being shipped off again. Normally the higher ups took care of everything but this was something he wanted to get finished himself. Until then he would just enjoy the ride. He had stolen and very fine car this time. A shiny new convertible, black, looked like it was straight off the assembly line, and filled with just enough gas to get it to the next town with no problems. He slid his sunglasses into place and yanked his long hair out of it's pony tail so that it whipped around free in the wind. He could really think when he was like this, and he had a lot to think about. First and foremost, he was back. The higher ups had called his butt back into duty and there was nothing he could do about it. Second, he had no clue who all had been called back, other then Roger of course. And third, was Hilde. He had promised her that he would be at the courthouse on the 22nd but it was looking like that would be more difficult then originally planned.

Ah Hilde, his mind slipped to an imagined courthouse, her screaming that their marriage was nothing to him, the judge looking to him, a sane and intelligent man to indulge him and explain what he wanted to happen. And then, he would get his final jab in. It felt bad that he wanted to crush her now, considering how much he had loved her only six months before. He could imagine it perfectly, she would be standing there, small chest heaving, short black hair frazzled, her face slightly red with anger as she listed to him. And then the verdict would come, in his favor of course, and her gray eyes would widen in surprise and then would give way to anger. Her small frame would quiver with rage and then sag in defeat. Duo stared upwards for a second. But all that meant nothing now. Soon he would be at the base and would have to call her and explain that some things came up and he, yet again would be unable to make it to the courthouse.

"Maybe next time" he muttered into the rushing air.

Two hours later Duo swung the car into the parking lot of a small cement and brick building just outside of Beaver, Oklahoma. People had been against setting one of the most important headquarters for the military intelligence in such a remote area but as the builders so eloquently put it, "Who in the hell would come out here?" Duo left the keys sitting on the seat of the convertible and pulled his hair back into a messy ponytail before sauntering his way up to the door of the building. All the doors and windows were boarded up and weeds grew around the cracked and old foundation of the building. Duo smiled, it was an amazing tribute to specialized architecture . Just underneath the crumbling bricks lay a thick layer of steel. The door was impossible to open without clearance from inside and once you got in you had to present your ID to 3 different officers, all trained to shoot on command if you failed to produce it in less then a minute. No exceptions. He smiled and waited while listening to the familiar whir that told him cameras where zooming in on him, sizing him up, and finally typing in the code that unlocked the door with a small kik. Duo smirked to himself, he was back.

Deep inside the building a small group of three people clustered around a large worn wooden table and watched the monitors set high into the wall. On the grainy monitors they could watch Duo's slow walk down the hall past each of the guards. One of them, a small woman with short dark hair and cloudy grey eyes stared angrily at the small figure that came closer with each step.

'Why are you here?' she wispered angrily. She turned towards the back of the table where two more men sat eying the monitors with slight interest.

"Rogerཀ You called him last night didn't you? Didn't he mention he was supposed to be somewhere today?"

"Hilde," replied Roger with a sigh running his wrinkled hand through his grey messy hair, "We have had this conversation eight times now. I told you. All he said was he would be here today. And as for him having to be somewhere, you and I both know you can't exactly tell the government, "Oh would you give me two seconds? Thanks I've got something more important then you that I just _have_ to get done."

"Don't try to reason with her." drawled the other young man. "It's not like a woman can really understand what our reasons are. After all, she would need a brain to do that."

"Wu Fei..." Hilde growled as she focused in on the thin Chinese man set back in the shadows. Lowering her hand to her right thigh where her gun usually hung she started when she remembered it had been confiscated from her when she came through the doors earlier that day. She sighed and sat back down. "Lucky for you."

Wu Fei watched her expressions change with a smirk then turned his dark black eyes back to the monitors. From the looks of things the last guard was refusing to believe Duo was who he said he was. Finally Duo settled the matters with a hard punch to the gut then moved on to the next guy who, laughing, waved him through with no argument. "At least some of the people here are smart." he muttered. "And some here who are absolutely worthless." He glanced over at Hilde knowing the last statement had been just loud enough to reach her ears. He smiled at the anger shaking her small frame, "Just stating a fact" he said innocently.

The brewing argument was cut short by a loud bang as Duo threw the heavy door open and stormed into the room.

"I swearཀ Do they just hire people who can't read a damn name here or something? The day could not get any more god-damn...hi Hilde. How's the uh divorce coming?

Hilde stared at the figure in the doorway for a long moment before slowly standing up and pulling a pack of cigarettes out of her jacket pocket. She lit one and took a long drag before blowing the smoke towards Duo. "Why are you here?"

"What?" replied Duo confused.

"I repeat" muttered Hilde, "Why are you here?"

Duo paused for a moment. What kind of question was that? Why was he here? Well because he was called to be here. The same reason she was here he supposed. "I'm here," he started. "Because of the same reason you're here. And the same reason everyone is here. Because we have to be."

"Don't be so sure." Drawled Wu Fei from the back of the room. "_She_ wasn't called. She only showed up cause they called her looking for you. As far as we've gathered she's here just to pitch a bitch fit if you showed up. You know, instead of going to the courthouse to sit alone making small talk with the divorce judge."

Hilde's face burned with anger and embarrassment as she ground out the cigarette against the table. It was obvious she was avoiding looking at anyone as she slumped back into her chair.

"So what's going to happen to her then?" Duo asked Wu Fei. "It's not like anyone is going to like an extra person sneaking in just to yell at me."

"It's already been taken care of." announced a deep voice from the doorway. Duo jerked his head around in surprise and felt his face heat up as he found himself staring into the eyes of the only man to ever make him nervous, Heero Yuy. Heero smirked at the reaction his presence caused and snatched up the end of the messy ponytail hanging down Duo's back. "Could you not have ever cut this? After all, a clean look is helpful in the field especially when one is trying to make a good impression." Duo snatched his hair back before stomping the rest of the way into the room and slouched into a seat near Wu Fei.

"Well then, if everyone is ready I will begin the mission review."

Duo slumped back in his chair and let out a sigh. Last time the great Heero Yuy had sat them down for a mission review they ended up in some god-forsaken African country doing clean up work to contain some weird virus. The clean up work had been simple, walk into every village highlighted on your map and make sure nothing was alive by the time you left. It was gunning down running and screaming women and children that had been tough. And before that they had been in Russia trying to track down a few runaway informants that had been planning to hide out in the Russian underground. Duo started and looked at Heero curiously, 'Come to think of it' he thought. 'Every time he's been involved we've almost died. Course that's nothing new, we almost died all the time. But his missions seemed like they were wired that way.' He snorted laughter. Now he was going to go into this mission as paranoid as they come and would screw it up in a heartbeat.

"Mr. Maxwell"

"Huh? Wha..oh sorry, I think I missed the last eh..few sentences."

Heero smiled coldly." I'm sorry to bother you like this but if you would please come back from where ever it is your brain has wandered off this time you would notice that not only are we done, but we are waiting for important answers from you." The sorry was dripping with contempt and the entire phrase was oozing with self assured arrogance. Duo had a hard time not jumping up and punching him in the face when he was finished.

"Well, very sorry, I assure you it won't happen again." Replied Duo as flashy as possible, even going so far as to offer a slight bow from the chair. In the corner Wu Fei rolled his eyes and Roger shook his head at the show. Heero's face hardened at the sight of the bow and turned silently back to the board.

"As I was saying, you will be landing here. In the Japanese city of Tokyo. From there you will meet up with our agent over there, I believe you know Corporal Treize. He will guide you to your safe house, there you will find the items needed to carry out your mission and once you have settled in, more detailed instruction regarding procedures. Some of you" he glanced around the room, "might have to change your appearance to fit in better." He smiled at the sound of disgust coming from where Duo sat. "Finally once you have completed the mission _successfully_ you will return to the safe house where Trieze will arrange transportation for you back to America."

The entire room shifted into attention at the phase "completed successfully." Everyone glanced around at each other, wondering who would be the one to look scared and clarify what exactly was going on. In the past it had always been a small rivalry when the time came to ask. The entire room would be filled with good natured jabs and goading, offering up their neighbor or someone they knew had recently been screwing up in training as the one to ask the questions. The one to look confused. But as time went on, and more and more of them disappeared, or died, or just quit, the good natured jabs turned slowly into bitter resentment. And the anger they felt towards the ones that left grew gradually into anger against each other. And out of that anger, grew a bitter rivalry that seethed and brewed under the surface.

Heero glanced around and gave a disgusted chuckle.

"We are about to send you across the world for a dangerous mission and you all still care about that worthless rivalry? Honestly now, how many of you have even seen anyone else from this group since it was broken up?"

Duo and Hilde cast a quick glance at each other but stayed silent. Roger and Wu fie both glanced around and shrugged. None of his business really. Heero stared for a few seconds more waiting for an answer before sighing and turning back to the screen.

"Right, let it be known that I had to explain more than ever for all of you because no one would ask for an explanation. Anyway, as I was saying, the mission must be completed _successfully _for you to be able to come home. That means no botching it up and coming back to regroup, no losing the plans and coming back to get more, and no getting over there and deciding it's too hard. Once you are over there, that's it. Does everyone understand?"

Duo groaned and slid farther in his seat. His eyes glazed over as he attempted to remove himself from the room and the situation. More and more his eyes unfocussed on the room until he wasn't there anymore, and was instead far away, years in the past. And watching Heero navigate a small black car through a maze of buildings and trees.


End file.
